Reveille1984

I wish Arte would have figured that out before the Hamilton and Pujols deals

Yeah... it really is a laughable comparison. Stamets is 24 and hasn't played above AA ball, and hit .197 over 33 games after the trade. The guy will never make an impact as a regular player in the bigs. Simmons was on the Braves at 22 years old and was pretty much a .300 hitter in the minors.

Cespedes had a career offensive year at 30 with a move to the NL after averaging about a 105 wRC+ the previous two seasons. Upton had a lower wRC+ and offensive WAR than Heyward last season while being two years older. I think you have some misconceptions about the offensive potential of Cespedes and Upton over Heyward when Heyward has basically been good to great offensively his entire career. Also calling a 5-6 WAR player "good but not that good" is a pretty laughable stretch, especially one who's a free agent at 26 which is insanely rare in today's landscape of locking up any young talent you can before they hit the market. Over the last 3 years he's been the 6th most valuable outfielder in baseball, only behind names like Trout, Harper, McCutchen and Bautista. Upton is going to get a pretty hefty long-term deal that's probably in the 6-7 year range, he's only 28. I wouldn't call that a short-term fix. I wouldn't be surprised if Cespedes got a 5+ year deal either, and we all see how signing 30+ year old dudes to hefty deals has worked out in the past. Just because Heyward isn't a "perfect" fit for our LF needs doesn't mean that he isn't the best fit for us. I'll take the younger and better defensive player any day over older guys without the same track record (Cespedes) and guys who are a defensive liability (Upton). I don't understand the mentality of "we need a guy that can hit, not another good defensive player", especially when said defensive player actually can hit. A run saved on the field is just as valuable as a run earned with the bat. I'd like to think a gold-glove caliber RF can move to LF without that much of a hit to overall defensive ability.

Trying to bunt base hit with two outs and nobody on, good old Angels baseball

He's better than our other options, he just looks a lot sexier when guys like Victorino, Featherston, and Iannetta are anchoring our lineup (to the bottom of the ocean). A 2 WAR player isn't really going to make much of a day to day difference in win-loss record.

It's more the fact that we're a mediocre baseball team with a bunch of nobodies on the roster.

Anyone thinking he will actually retire in a few years are kidding themselves, especially with how much money he's owed. As long as he can still walk he's going to have the same ego and chip on his shoulder that he's always had. I can't see Albert ever actually saying "you know what, I'm just not good enough to justify my contract or play at a high level anymore." It will always be "once my foot/leg/thigh/ACL/back/etc. heals, I'm going to be 100% again!"

People say this all the time but it isn't really true. Last year only five teams had a winning record against > .500 teams, and one of them was Seattle. The Giants won the World Series with a losing record against good teams as well.

Pretty much. All of our announcers are basically replaceable to me besides Victor, Langston is fine as well. Does everything really have to be so PC and "tow the company line" all the time? God forbid someone that can actually call out a stupid play or a dumb decision because it's too sarcastic or negative. It seems like people have replaced the word "realism" with "negativity" in their minds when it comes to analyzing this snore of a team.

I'm in the same boat as you. Management and PR for this team are an unmitigated disaster. From the Hamilton situation, to the whole "upper class spend more at the stadium" story, to Dipoto basically being so fed up with his lack of control as a GM that he just said "f*** this, peace out" in the MIDDLE of the season. Our farm has been one of the worst in baseball for years now it seems, and we have no position player talent ready to replace our aging, dusty, overpaid turds. Our coaching staff is stale and complacent. Arte is starting to get a Jerry Jones-esque reputation as being overly involved in team operations. This team is so lucky that it drafted a once in a generation player that it isn't evey funny. I pretty much only watch games to see our young pitching and to watch Kole, Cowart and Trout get at bats.

I have carpal tunnel from turning so many pages, maybe I should get a Kindle

We really need to start rebuilding at some point, not worrying about giving a 30 year old pitcher a $200M contract. Look at our core right now. Aybar is going to be 32. Pujols is turning into a one-trick pony with the bat and moves more like he's 45 than 35. LF, 2B, C and 3B are all black holes being filled with a rotating clown car of nobodies and fill-ins on the tail end of their careers. Trout is the obvious saving grace of our franchise and Calhoun is a solid 3-4 WAR player, but our lineup is ultra mediocre outside of those two and trending downward.

I prefer realism over a head in the sand cheerleader any day. Victor's dad is also going through chemo, so I imagine that isn't helping him get into a cheery mood either - https://twitter.com/VictorRojas29/status/636908566646013952

There goes my goddamn free pizza

If only Detroit used the contact play like us

FACEPALM

Stick a fork in em

The old bunting in the first few innings of the game routine, never change Sosh

This team is a ****ing train wreck

Seems pretty unlikely to me with Friedman and Zaidi at the helm. The Dodgers are building one of the most analytics driven and smartest front offices in baseball. Why would they bring a stubborn dinosaur like Scioscia into the mix?

I can't see any situation where Scioscia opts out. His paycheck is way too hefty for that.

Gio showing off his immaculate defense even in this turd of a game.

Well, Cowart could have started better.

Whoa there partner. Let's see him get hit one before brandishing names like Chipper.